premeditated

winnipeg is an aging grand piano with a bum key
who may never achieve her magnum opus










we've been waiting 80 years for Chicago North
but as our suburbs slug across the prairies,
the core cries for change, cries quickly swallowed by
decaying brick, whipping winds, eight month Winters

...and something else...



(the clang of change jangles in our chests with growing alarm and we get nervous)









the old are padding our streets with contented familiar trails
to the droopy apothecary that will never shut down,
the dusty grocer who always stocks kitty food next to the air-fresheners,
to the bakery where they still call them Matrimonial cakes,
and the coffee is always scalding and watery,
just the way they like it

they know something

they know their Winnipeg
they know it just as they knew it
80 years ago, and how it will be

80 years from now

and they know that we will never change it,
that we will maintain it
just the way they like it


(as another brick hits the pavement)


we innvotate

we plot our escape


summer invincibility
catapults us from
wintery incubation
and we colour the streets
with sound and art






and the old nod and smile

we drink to celebrate
then drink more to quell our fears
then even more to forget









then we wake up, dried out and older
the earth turns over one more time

another notch on the wall

and winter blows in

and we lie in bed
and we lie and we lie and we lie

until we believe we are fine










until the sun ceases assaulting our senses
and we rise and fall into a slumbery walk
drawn only to artificial lights and beer
and the warmth of whoever will hold us tonight

sleep to get to tomorrow.
sleep to ignore our dreams.

jangle jangle jangle

snooze

across the city
a congregation steeps in candles and incense
within the butressed dome of a stainglassed sanctuary

songs stirring within
songs being written and sung
to attack the blackness of despair

if you are willing
Lord,

you can set me free

Freeing One,
Freeing One

set me free,
set me free

and I shall be free indeed
and I shall be free indeed

and they exit into the night
refreshed

and they exit into the night
and get into their cars and they drive

and they drive through the night
to their homes

and they climb into bed and lie
and they lie and they lie
until they believe that they will be free
tomorrow

tomorrow,
i shall be free indeed
i shall be free indeed
i shall be free indeed
i shall be free indeed
i shall be . . .

jangsnooze!